“Like charity, I believe glamour should begin at home.” Loretta Young

I work mostly from home so I have developed over time the really bad habit of spending my days looking at beautiful clothes online and in magazines whilst dressed like a slob. A worn oversized baggy sweater over mismatched faded ancient pj bottoms has become my outfit de rigueur . And worse on my feet are these slippers that I bought in Pennys, you know those soft furry ballet type slip-ons. Only mine have now begun to fall apart leaving little or nothing between my feet and the ground as all the stuffing (well actually what little there was since they only cost around€2.50 so what can you expect?) has over time fallen out . So reluctant am I to part with them I inserted foam insoles to try to both keep my feet from getting frost bite. But that was until one fateful day about three weeks ago when they disintegrated on me as I descended the stairs with a huge pile of laundry in my arms. Suffice to say I got no sympathy – they were an accident waiting to happen – and I had briuses on my bum that would have made Christian Grey jealous. With my beloved slippers now gone the universe must have decided to carpe diem and do what it could to get me out of my clothes rut. And so a day or two after the incident on the stairs a beautiful turquoise satin wrap fell into my hands. (Thanks Oxfam) You know the type – Chinese pattern kimono but jacket style rather than full length dress.Anyway on a whim I reached for this first thing one morning rather than my usual old reliable. I have not yet gotten around to replacing my slippers so for the minute I am wearing a pair of black sequined flip flops with a super soft foam cushion left over from last summer. And so there I was sitting having my morning cup of joe clad now in something other than my usual grey draining- all- colour-from-my-face-oversized baggy grey fleece when a friend unexpectedly dropped in. And what they said when they say me got me thinking. They came in and despite my unwashed face, uncombed hair and general not looking my best me, they still felt the need to compliment me. ” Wow that really is your colour.” Okay so they then went on to say that now I just needed to lose the Winnie the Pooh pajama bottoms, and I fully intend to…some day, but for now I was, I’ll admit, delighted as this particular individual is a very harsh critic who unfortunately has a unique and extremely frustrating skill of always, no matter I am wearing, able to seek out and aim a hit directly at any weak spots. A bullseye every time. The unexpected praise made me realise just how little attention I gave to how I looked a vast amount of the time. When most of your day is spent in your home it is altogether too easy to forget Ms Young’s prudent instruction. Granted it is unlikely I will put my glad rags and heels on to sit in front of my laptop, but I have, since that morning , replaced my fleece with the Chinese satin top and when I pass a mirror or a window it feels good to see something colourful, something glamorous reflect back at me. It made me take stock and look around my house and the general dumping ground aka my office where I spend so many hours, to see how and where I could add some razzle-dazzle to my surroundings. In addition I am now officially on the hunt for something to supplant my faded Winnie the Pooh bottoms and who knows perhaps I might even stumble upon, although preferably not on or near any stairs , a pair of suitably sublime slippers.